Student Cannot Be Made To Suffer For University's Clerical Error In Records: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that a student cannot be made to suffer for a clerical error committed by an educational institution in its administrative records or while reporting student data to a regulatory authority.

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta said that where a student's status as a bona fide candidate is established through the university's internal records, and there is no dispute that the student completed the course, the institution is obliged to issue the necessary degrees and marksheets instead of relegating the student to protracted litigation.

Court made the observation while allowing an appeal filed by Stuti Sharma, a law graduate of Manav Bharti University, and directing the university to issue her marksheets for the 7th to 10th semesters, degree and other relevant documents within four weeks.

Court noted that the university itself admitted that Sharma was a bona fide student who had passed all her examinations and that the non-issuance of her degree was solely due to a clerical error in reporting her admission to the regulatory authority.

Sharma had completed the BA.LLB programme for the 2016-2021 batch at Manav Bharti University. She had approached the Supreme Court against the January 7, 2025 order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, which had disposed of her writ petition by making an earlier order passed in a public interest litigation applicable to her case.

The dispute arose after several cases were registered against the university's then administration following allegations regarding the sale of degrees. The university's records were seized during the investigation, and Sharma was not issued her detailed marks certificates for the 7th to 10th semesters or her degree.

Following a representation by students of the university to the Chief Justice of the high court, a PIL was registered. A document verification committee was subsequently constituted by the state government under the chairmanship of the Superintendent of Police, Solan.

The committee prescribed parameters for verifying students' records, including whether their names appeared in the Green Register and the Admission Disclosure List submitted to the Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission (HP-PERC).

In a letter dated September 19, 2023, the university informed Sharma that although her name appeared in the Green Sheet Register for the 2016-2017 session, it was absent from the admission disclosure list provided by the Special Investigation Team. The university consequently said that her marksheets, degree and other documents could not be issued or verified.

Sharma then approached the high court seeking her degree, marksheets for the 7th to 10th semesters and other documents, including her character certificate and migration certificate.

Meanwhile, the high court disposed of the PIL, observing that it could not determine disputed questions of fact concerning the status of students whose names had been placed on record by the university. It left it open to the students to approach the competent court.

On January 7, 2025, the high court disposed of Sharma's writ petition by applying the same order to her case.

Before the Supreme Court, Sharma's counsel submitted that she had regularly attended classes, paid all fees, appeared in and passed every semester examination, and that her name was reflected in the Green Sheet Register maintained by the university.

It was argued that forwarding her record to HP-PERC for inclusion in the admission disclosure list was the university's responsibility and was a matter over which Sharma had no control.

Her counsel further submitted that because she did not have her degree, Sharma had been unable to enrol with the State Bar Council, pursue higher education, appear for competitive examinations or secure employment. Relegating her to a civil court would only prolong the deprivation suffered by her through no fault of her own, counsel argued.

The university admitted before the Supreme Court that Sharma's name was not included in the admission disclosure list because of a clerical and inadvertent human error by its previous administration. Instead, the name of one Pankaj Kumar had been forwarded.

The university explained that Kumar had independently taken admission in 2015 for the 2015-2020 academic session under a different admission and registration number. His inclusion in place of Sharma was therefore a clerical mismatch and did not amount to substitution or deletion of Sharma's actual admission.

Court found that it was undisputed that Sharma was a bona fide student of the university, had been admitted against an allotted seat and had appeared in and cleared all her examinations.

"The exclusion of her name from the admission disclosure list is, on the university’s own admission, a clerical error at its own end in which the appellant had no part, and the appellant cannot be made to bear its consequences and suffer," the Bench said.

Court also considered a discrepancy between copies of the result gazette and the Green Sheet concerning Sharma's earlier semesters. It noted that the discrepancy related to semesters for which the university had already issued her detailed marks certificates in the normal course.

Importantly, it noted that neither respondent had alleged that Sharma had failed in any examination.

"Having regard to the facts established on the record, we are of the view that the appellant has been deprived of her documents for no fault of hers for a substantial period of time, and that relegating her to a court of competent jurisdiction, as observed by the High Court by the impugned order of January 07, 2025, is not called for, as no factual dispute survives as to her entitlement," the Bench said.

Court accordingly allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned order insofar as it concerned Sharma.

It directed the university to issue her marksheets for the 7th to 10th semesters, degree and other relevant documents, including her character certificate and migration certificate, within four weeks.

Case Title: Stuti Sharma Vs Manav Bharti University (MBU) And Others

Bench: Justices Vikram Nath, Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Mehta 

Date of Judgment: September 24, 2026